


Summer Camp Was Supposed To Be Fun

by FeralRockGoblin



Category: SCWSTBF
Genre: Camp, F/M, Summer Camp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25414201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeralRockGoblin/pseuds/FeralRockGoblin
Summary: Rei Paek had been going to Summer Lily Summer Camp for six years. Today, she meets Tucker Adams, a new kid at camp. But something... isn't right.
Relationships: Tucker Adams/Rei Paek
Kudos: 1





	Summer Camp Was Supposed To Be Fun

**Author's Note:**

> This isnt for any fandom, I just really needed a place to post this too get feedback. If any mods see this and want me to take it down, I will.

~Rei~  
Summer camp was supposed to be fun. It wasn't supposed to be aching feet after a two-hour hike and sinking into the wet mud. Although, both together felt pretty nice. We had a two-hour break, and I slipped off my shoes and socks and sunk my feet into the mud. It felt weird, the mud squishing between my toes, but on burning feet it felt fantastic. My calves were dotted with red bug bites, and my short fingernails were filled with dirt. To try and keep my mind off of the itch that I felt, I picked out dirt from underneath my fingernails, letting it fall into the mud and hard dirt underneath me.   
“Rei!” a voice called from behind me. I turned my body to see my friend Robin running towards me, their feet flinging dirt behind them as they ran.   
“Hey, Robin!” I said, turning back to the mud bath I had made. They stopped short when they saw my bare feet sticking into the large mud puddle.   
“Dude. If Hardrock sees that you are so dead,” they said, picking up the empty water bottle that sat next to me.   
“Hardrock? Are you kidding me? By the time her blind eyes see this, I'll be halfway across the campus. Plus I think the hike took her out for a while.” I pointed to a parked golf cart that sat in the shade of a large oak tree, where the counselor we called Hardrock sat asleep at the wheel.   
“Well, that's just a safety hazard.” Robin breathed.   
“Hey, while you have that,” I gestured to the water bottle they had picked up, “Go down to the creek and fill it up please,” I said. The creek was just down from where I had made the mud puddle, but you needed to go through a trail of thorns and sharp branches, so I couldn't get down there, not with the shorts I was wearing. Robin had shorts on to, but they had always loved romping into danger. Robin agreed, and started down the hill, kicking down the dead, spiky branches with their large boots.   
“You know I've got to get a pair of those. Where’d you get them?” I asked, taking my feet out of the mud and kicking off the big clumps that stuck.   
“What, my boots? I got them from a store by my house. They sell all sorts of stuff but these puppies caught my eye. Of course, I tricked them out a bit.” They said, flashing the side while they filled the bottle. The side of the boot had been painted, a large snake coiled around a knife, bleeding and biting the blade.   
“Wow,” I mumbled. “Any underlying meaning behind that? Any uh, therapy you need or something?” Robin let out a snort as they were climbing back up, their heavy boots gripping the soil much better than my dumb shoes, they didn't even go up to my ankles.   
“It's a story about how letting go is so much better than holding on too something that is messing you up.” Robin said. When Robin handed me the bottle, I used it to wash off the mud on my feet, then grabbed a bandana from Robin’s pocket.   
“Hey! I need that!” they squirmed, turning toward me.   
“You never use it,” I said, rubbing the water off of my feet.   
“I use it for my aesthetic. But I don't want it back now. It’s got all your feet stink on it.” They made an over the top disgusting face when I tried to hand them back the purple handkerchief.   
“I do not have ‘foot stink’, I just washed them!” I said, stuffing the bandana into my pocket, then grabbing my socks and shoes and putting them back on. “So why’d you come to find me? Weren’t you trying to wrestle a snake or something?”   
“Rep wants to talk to you. When he sent me away, I pressed my ear against the door and heard him talking about a new kid. Looks like you got stuck with babysitting duty.” They said, helping me up.   
"What you're saying is that you eavesdropped?" I said, dusting myself off. They paused for a moment.   
"Yeah!" They said. I let out a chuckled and started towards The Barn, the place that wasn't actually a barn but instead the main office. The Barn used to be just that, A barn. In Fact, the whole camp used to be a farm before the owner died and his kids sold it. It got passed around for a while before it landed in the hands of Ryan Peach, an older man who had bought the place at an auction. Ryan was a tall man with a southern drawl to his voice, and a man who took shaving as an ultimate need. His beard was always trimmed perfectly, his hair always cut in the same exact style. The man's hair was greying, streaks of white flowing through the swept-back style and peppering through his beard. He was old, but his color was the only thing that gave him away. His body was perfect, in as pristine condition as an army boeuf, and his face was hardly wrinkled. He wore blue jeans every day, with any color flannel and big boots, something Robin would agree with. A real countryman.  
When the man turned what could have been a good ranch into a summer camp, people couldn't understand it. Every time someone would say something about it, his response was "Well youth is something to be nurtured."   
When Robin and I reached the doors to the barn, I waved as they disappeared off into the brush, and pulled the door open and walked inside.   
In front sat a receptionist, who didn't as much as look up when I walked past into Ryan’s office, or as we called him, Rep. Rep’s office, along with everyone else's office in the barn, were old barn stalls that were renovated into an office. Or, as close as you can get to an office when you’re working with an old barn. The top part of the door, the part with bars, had been knocked out, replacing the bars with glass. The floors and been given a brand new layer of hardwood, with a dark varnish over top to make it look nice. Other than the faint smell of dust and hay, and the weird door, Rep’s office looked like any old office. A nice desk in the middle, one spinning chair on his side, two stationary on the guest’s side, shelves nailed to the sides holding up trophies, pictures and the like. A nice quaint office.   
Rep sat in his chair, reading over some paperwork with a kid I had never seen before. This kid definitely looked older than me, that was the only thing I could glean from his appearance. He had fluffy black hair that hung slightly over his eyes and was shaved at the sides. He had piercings, three on his left ear and two on his right. His ears were also stretched, something I had been wanting to do all summer. He had skin that had a slight orange flush to it, and green eyes that let me know the kid in front of me had one brain cell. He was wearing a purple hoodie and black jeans, and he had the sticker that said his cabin name on his hoodie, with a pair of boots laced unevenly at his feet.   
When I walked in, he turned his head to face me.   
“Ello,” he said, smiling. Pointy teeth. And also, British. Not what I was expecting.   
“Hello,” I said, accidentally mimicking the accent slightly. He must have heard because he said,  
“You trying to make fun of me eh? Not gonna work.” He smiled again and sat up more in his chair. “It’s not offensive to me anyway. I'm not even British.” He said, in an American accent. He laughed hard when my face lit up, and I would have sworn him out right there if it wasn't for Rep.   
“Very funny. Rei, this is Tucker. He’s new here. Tucker, this is Rei, she’s been coming to Camp Sonova for the past six years. Rei, I’d like you to show Tucker around.” I made a quick gag sound then sighed.   
“Sure thing Rep,” I said. Rep muttered a few more words to Tucker I didn't bother to listen to, before sending Tucker out the door where I was waiting. Walking out of the office I surprised the receptionist. She tried to sputter out a few words but I just put a hand up and waved to her. I pushed open the front door and walked out into the sunlight, and found Robin sitting outside, leaning against the barn.   
“Turns out you were right,” I said, plopping down next to them. “I did get stuck with babysitting duty.” Robin chuckled.   
“I told you, man.” They turned to me. “So who’d you get stuck with? 9? 10?” They asked.   
“17, actually.” came a voice from behind me. Tucker was squatting behind me, listening to our conversation.   
“You’re 17 and your parents sent you to a summer camp?” Robin asked.   
“Well, they tried to send me to military school first. But when I got there, they did a psych evaluation and let's just say they all agreed to not give me weapons, even if they are fake,” he said, leaning against the barn.   
“So they sent a psychopath to a camp full of 15-year-olds and under?”   
“Well I’m here aren't I?” he retorted.  
"Touche." A moment of silence passed. The wind rustled trees.   
“So what do we do now?” Tucker asked.   
“You go bug someone else,” I said, placing my head on the side of the barn. I pulled a hair tye off of my wrist and wrangled my short hair into a bun. Well, more of a very small ponytail. It would eventually fall out as I moved, but then I would put it back up and the cycle would continue. One stray black piece settled right in front of my face, framing the left side. It tickled as it gently touched my skin.   
Tucker scoffed. “I thought you were supposed to give me a tour.”  
I waved a hand at him. “You’re 17. You can figure it out.” I had my eyes closed, and my head was leaning against the barn. The breeze felt fantastic. I felt a tickling on my thigh but ignored it.   
“You know there's a bug on your thigh right?” Tucker said.   
I slammed my hand down on my thigh, expecting the feeling of nothing but the pain of the slap. Instead, I felt the spew of hot bug guts across my legs. I opened my eyes to see the smashed corpse of a giant centipede plastered all over my legs and hand. Tucker had jumped up to avoid the blast, and Robin was nowhere to be found. They probably left a while ago. I picked up the still intact portion of the bug and chucked it into the bushes.   
“Dude you killed it! I didn't think you would kill it!” Tucker said, watching the corpse fling through the air.   
“Well, yeah where there's a bug on you the normal reaction would be to kill it,” I said, standing. Some guts fell but most stayed stuck to me.   
“Fine. First stop on the tour, Bathrooms.”  
The wet, scratchy paper towel worked just fine at wiping the guts off of my legs. As the cold water dripped down my legs I gave an uninterested explanation of the campus.   
“These are the bathrooms, affectionately nicknamed the Pig stys,” I said with a wave. “They are absolutely disgusting and have nothing but cold water. If you piss of Hardrock,” I gestured to the still sleeping woman, “Then you can expect to be cleaning these.” I reached over and grabbed another paper towel as I threw the wet one away and wiped up the excess water that ran along the curve of my leg.   
Tucker was leaning against the outside wall of the bathrooms, taking in the sights. The bathrooms were built like your basic campsite bathrooms, a normal square cut in two with two walls jutting out to block the inside view. The walls dripped with messy overpainting, a half-hearted attempt at covering up sharpie graffiti that still showed through, my favorites being a doodle of Rep using Hardrock as a balloon.   
“So where are the gender signs?” Tucker asked, making his way too the spot where the area was lighter and cleaner than the area around it, and where a dark black sharpie had written, “Suck it you binary whore!!”   
I giggled too myself when I saw the writing. I had seen it so many times before, and yet Robin’s message still made me laugh.   
“Robin ripped them off when they refused to build a non-binary bathroom. But just so you know, that one’s the male, this one’s the female one.” I said, pointing and taking out my sharpie and retouching the faded letters. Tucker stood and looked at me with a cocked head.   
“A bird ripped off your gender signs?” he asked.   
“Not A robin. Robin. The person I was talking to earlier. Short hair, big boots? Walks like they just missed their punk press conference?”  
“Ah. Her.” He said, standing straight and getting ready to leave.   
“It’s them. Not her.” I said, correcting him.   
“There’s more then one?” He said. I turned to him.   
“No, there's just the one, but they use they them pronouns. Don't be a jerk.” He stood in front of me now, looking down at me.   
“What if I don't want to use those?”  
“Then you can find your own way around.” I said, shoving him out of my way.   
“Come on,” he said, jogging up to me. “I'm sorry. I’ll try to use the correct ones.” I turned to him, my arms crossed. I stood for a moment, considering.   
“Fine.” I sighed. I started walking away, and looked over my shoulder to find him still standing there.   
“Are you coming or not?” he walked fast to catch up to me as I walked down the path, walking past The Barn and down near the dining hall. I pushed the doors open and walked inside, being blessed by the wonder of air conditioning. “This is the dining hall, this is where you’ll eat, three times a day. Once in a while your cabin will be chosen to do busboy duty, where you’ll set the tables, fill water cups, etc.” I said as I grabbed a few plates. As I set out the plates I told him more about the camp.   
“What cabin are you in?” I asked.   
“Redoak, I think.” he said as he followed me around.   
“Ah, ok. I’ll take you there once I'm done with this.” I finished setting the table, then filled the glasses.  
“Lunch is in about 20 minutes, so we don't have much time. Come on.” I said as I passed by him.   
He followed me out the doors and up the path, passing by the large field we called the punch bowl. Kids lounged in the grass, girls painted each other's nails with contraband nail polish and the smaller kids played tag. The hot sun bathed onto the campers, and the shade was crowded enough. As we passed through the line of trees, the ground leveled into the packed down mulch that covered most of the floor around us. Large cabins stood in rows, militant in their looks, despite the decorations the counselors tried to jazz them up with. I led him to the right, too the male cabins.   
“This ones yours,” I said, leaning on the arm rail.   
“Yeah, I know. I came here first thing with Rep.” he said.  
“Oh yeah. Sorry. Yeah.” I said, running my hand through my hair.   
“It’s ok, don't fret.” He said, heading back towards the tree line opening. I jogged to catch up to him, and paused when he looked back.   
“Which ones are yours?” He said, never breaking eye contact with the cabins. “You know, incase I need help after lunch.” out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Tucker had folded up a piece of paper and shoved it into his pocket. After closer inspection I realised it was the camp daily schedule.   
“After lunch is another free period.¨ I said, turning again to exit. ¨But mine is the one with the red flowers by the door.” Two cabins down on the very left sat a dark cabin with fake red flowers pinned to the door frame. He let out a breath and turned, following me back out. Kids on the quad now gathered at the front of the dining hall, talking amongst themselves.   
¨I'm gonna say this once, so listen very carefully. You eat with your cabin mates. Your cabin is going to be the one with a white guy, a bit taller than you sitting at the front. He'll probably call you over. Please be patient with him, he's the newest counselor and like your age, but he’s a nice guy.” The line shortened enough so that we could get inside, and as the door pushed open the deafening noise consumed us. I weaved my way through the tables, and unsurprisingly, Tucker followed. “Breakfast lunch and dinner, you’ll find the end of the line, get a tray and get one of the main things, a fruit and some kind of grain.” As I said this, I saw what was for today.   
“Hm. Tuna melt. Could be worse.” I picked up two trays and handed one to him. I picked up one of the cling wrapped sandwiches and put it on my tray, then grabbed an orange and a sweet roll. Tucker chose an apple and roll as well, and when he walked out of the line I turned and said. “This is where we part. Bye.” I maneuvered my way to my cabin table, and sat down next to Robin. Robin was placed in a female cabin, and the camp says it was for their safety, but if you bothered to get to know Robin you would know that they would be perfectly fine on their own. But we did meet the first year they came here, so I guess that was worth it.   
I peeled the crust off of my sandwich as Robin started talking to me. “So how’s 17?” they said through a mouth full of food.   
“He’s like a lost puppy. He follows me around a lot. Also he put a giant bug on me, which sucked.” I said, biting into my sandwich.   
“I don't know about you, but huge bugs are super cool. I once had a pet tarantula, he was sick.” Robin said as they gulped down water. I laughed and asked,   
“Now, did you actually have a pet or did a tarantula find its way into your room and you were too scared to get rid of it?”  
“Shh. You don't know anything.” We laughed for a moment, but then the announcement call ran out. We returned the call, then settled into silence. Like most days, Rep didn't have enough time to do the announcements, so one of the counselors got stuck with the job. It was Jeremy, the blonde 17 year old counselor that had Tucker in his cabin.   
This year was Jeremy's second, he started the job two days after his 17th birthday, and when Rep contacted him again when summer started, he took the job again. He was funny, and knew how to connect with the kids, since he was only about four years older then most of us. Of course, with me being the oldest kid at camp, besides the new Tucker, me and Jeremy had talked quite a bit. Our pool of knowledge of current events was more overlapping than he would have with most kids, but due to the scheduling of the camp, we got little time to talk.   
Jeremy even looked like Tucker in some ways. Jeremy was tall like Tucker, and blushed like Tucker, but he didn't act like Tucker. Jeremy was nice, he had a quiet voice and always said his please and thank you’s. Jeremy had soft blonde hair and grey eyes, and didn't have any piercings. He was the poster boy for “a guy to bring home to mom” really.   
As he shouted out announcements, he mentioned that the camp had new kids, specifically four of them. Two girls, two boys, Tucker being one of them. I spotted Tucker at his table and watched him melt as Jeremy pointed him out. “One of the new guys is in my cabin actually!” One hand popped out and gave a lazy wave as Jeremy chuckled. “Funny guy.”   
Jeremy finished announcements as people ate, and when the clock hit two we piled our plates in the middle of our tables and headed outside. Jeremy slipped through the kids to find me as I headed past The Barn.   
“Going to see the horses again?” he asked, strolling beside me.   
“Of course. I have a surprise for them today. Can't tell you what it is though, you might snitch.” He opened his mouth in exaggerated shock.  
“Me? A snitch? I would never!” he said in a high pitched snooty voice.   
“You snitched when Robin found those matches!” I countered. He made a surprised face as if he couldn’t believe what I'd just said.   
“Robin was gonna burn down the camp! It was my duty as a counselor to report it!” I let out a loud snort as the stables came into view. “What’s so funny?”   
“Duty.” I said, laughing slightly.   
“Oh my god. You are so immature! But seriously, no snitching, what’d you bring for the horses?” he asked as he held open the stable door. I paused inside and reached into my shirt. I pulled out three carrots, long and covered in dirt.   
“I’m definitely gonna need a shower but it's worth it to feed the horses actual food.” I snapped one in half and fed one half to the nearest horse, a beautiful mare with dappled grey fur.   
“When did you even get those?” he asked, petting the horse as she chewed.  
“When we finished the hike we came through the garden so I just grabbed them as quick as I could and shoved them down my shirt. I didn’t expect to be put on babysitting duty.” I snapped the stalk of the carrot off and fed it to the next horse, along with the carrot itself. I patted him on the nose as I cracked another carrot in half. I moved to the next stall and pulled open the bottom half of the two part door. A small tan foal was already waiting for me. “Hi Jasper!” I cooed as he hopped out of the stall, getting his butt hit by his mom’s nose on the way out. I shut the door as Jasper kicked and flung himself about, making little snorting noises as he danced. I opened the top half of the door and fed the beautiful white horse one half of a carrot.   
Jeremy ran back and forth with Jasper, whispering positive things as he ran. The other horses watched through bars as the little foal ran. “It’s been a while since the little beast has been let loose.” Jeremy stopped running and walked up to an open wall, then slid down to the floor.   
“You said you got put on babysitting duty?” he asked, breathing deeply.   
I looked back at him from feeding a horse. “Uh yeah.” I said, surprised that he remembered my quick remark. “I got your kid actually, Tucker.” He cocked his head slightly, grinning. “I guess since I'm the oldest camper they wanted to stick him with me, even if we are different genders.” Jeremy thought for a moment. I saw him cross his arms and drag his long legs into a cross cross position.  
“Yeah, he’s a quiet one, isn't he?” is what he eventually settled on saying. I turned to him bewildered.   
“I couldn’t get him to shut up!” I laughed.   
“Maybe he just wants to talk to you.” he suggested. “Hey, if he says anything about me, would you let me know? I want to try and get on his good side, so if you tell me what he doesn't like about me, I can know what I'm doing wrong.” his hands picked at the dirt, and he was looking down, seemingly studying his own boots. I walked over and squatted down next to him, tapping his leg to get him to look at me.   
“Listen, if he said something to you during lunch i'm sure he didn't mean it. He's just a jerk.” I said, trying to cheer him up. He looked up at me suddenly.   
“No no no, he didn't say anything to me, he’s just. I don't know, it’s just strange.” Now I'm interested. I popped open the bottom art of Jasper’s stall as the little horse walked up to it. He sauntered in and I closed it, locking it behind him. I went back to Jeremy and sat down next to him.   
“What do you mean strange?” I asked. He shifted a bit.   
“He’s just got this look in his eye. Like he’s done this before. Like he knows every word that’s gonna come out of your mouth. It’s just a little freaky is all. He thinks he's smarter than me I think.” he sighed, then looked up at me.   
“But i'm willing to give him a chance, you know?” he gave a small smile, and I grinned, tapping him on the side.   
“Atta boy! Alright, I gotta go take a shower, but i’ll see you later ok?” I said, standing and helping him up. I gave him a wave as I started down the path. As I walked I wondered if I could get Tucker to stop talking if I acted more like Jeremy. But then I realised being that nice made me actually sick. I saw the back of the barn, it's faded red wood planks overgrown with dark green vines of twisting ivy, almost hiding the back completely. The only reason you could see the side really at all is because Robin and I usually come down on Fridays and pull down long vines of ivy and decorate the assembly stage with them.   
I walked past the punchbowl, seeing the campers run along with each other or just sit on the hill in the shade and talk. As I walked I saw someone coming up to me, and realised it was Tucker. His hair was tousled, and his sleeves were pulled up.   
“Hey Tucker, how was your lunch?” I asked as he began to walk with me.   
“Lunch was boring but these two kids found me afterward and boy are they fast!” he doubled over and put his hands on his knees as he breathed heavily. He let out a loud groan and whipped back up, jogging up too where I was. “Ya know for only 17 my back sure hurts real bad.”   
“What did you do to those poor boys?” I asked, my voice unintentionally tired.   
“They asked me to chase them around, and I'm not gonna turn down scaring some kids.” he said.   
“That’s definitely not creepy.” I said as I walked towards my cabin. I swung open the door as Tucker continued to talk about the kids. I slid my duffel bag out from under the bunk bed and rifled through it, and pulled out a new set of clothes and a towel. “What’s your next activity?” I asked as we walked towards the showers. Tucker obviously had no idea we were headed towards the showers, he was too caught up with rambling about his two new friends. Tucker fumbled in his back pocket and fished out his schedule, and it read off.   
“Archery? Oh my god, like with bows and arrows?” his face looked confused, delighted and surprised.   
“You won't get actual arrows for a while, if at all. You’ll get the paint tipped ones, until Rep decides you can be trusted with actual weaponry.” We stopped at the mouth of the two buildings.   
“What are these buildings? Are we continuing the tour?” He leaned to open the door to one of the buildings, but I reached out and pulled him back.   
“These are the showers. That’s the girls showers. These are where you belong.” I pushed him towards the male showers. It finally hit him and he started to stumble over himself.   
“I didn't, I didn't mean to follow you, I mean I wasn’t planning on doing anything! Like I'm not, I’m not that type of guy. I didn’t even know we were headed for the showers, since I only know like three places.” He awkwardly smiled, trying to sell his innocence as much as possible. I smiled, charmed by the fact that he tried so hard. He seemed very confused by this, stumbling too say something, but I cut him off.   
“You’re fine, i'm not gonna put you in jail. But you’re not allowed inside, that’s where I draw the line. While I shower you should go find Robin or Jeremy. Go play nice, make friends that aren’t me, or five years old.” Tucker scoffed.   
“What I've heard of Robin, they could easily be five years old. And I don't want to spend any more time with Blondie than I have to. Guy’s weird. No one’s that happy.” Tucker protested, leaning against the boys showers. I opened the door to the girl’s, Standing in the doorway.   
“Robin is not five, they’re fourteen. And Jeremy doesn't feel too peachy about you, either. But seriously, go.” I shut the door, found a shower and hung my towel up outside. I stripped and set my things outside of the shower, stepping onto the cold damp stone. Turning on the cold water, I washed away what wasn't even a full day.


End file.
